New Zealand Embassy Beijing, China

Government Inquiry on WPC Incident Released

The New Zealand Government has today issued a report on the first stage of the Government Inquiry into the Whey Protein Concentrate Contamination incident that occurred in August.

The report finds New Zealand’s food safety regulatory model is consistent with international principles and is among the best in the world.

In August, consumers were alerted that three batches of whey protein concentrate from New Zealand had potentially been contaminated. Scientific testing later showed there was no botulism contamination. The report supports New Zealand precautionary approach to ensure consumer safety.

The report makes a number of recommendations, most of which are about further strengthening the food safety system, which the New Zealand Government has accepted in principle and committed funding to implement. These include increasing dairy processing and regulatory capability.

Attached is the New Zealand Government media statement on the Inquiry. A copy of the full report can be found here.

The second stage of the Government Inquiry will look at what happened and the regulator’s response. This cannot be completed until the compliance investigation being undertaken by the Ministry for Primary Industries is completed. In August, MPI indicated the compliance investigation would take three to six months to complete.

Questions from media can be directed to Ms Lea He, the New Zealand Embassy at huan.he@mft.net.nz or（010）8531 2742.